10. Islanders Radek Martinek should be 11th hour trade1. Richards to the Rangers?

The rumor mill continues to link Brad Richards to the Rangers, although more and more, it appears Dallas Stars general manager, Joe Nieuwendyk may hold onto his leading scorer in an effort to lock down a playoff spot in the incredibly volatile Western Conference.

When the L.A. Kings placed veteran winger Marco Sturm on waivers recently, a few eyebrows were raised. After all, he had been acquired from Boston earlier this season in order to provide an offensive spark. It hasn’t happened, which has led to speculation that Kings GM Dean Lombardi is planning something big before Monday’s deadline. Lombardi seeks offense and the names most often linked to L.A. right now are Edmonton winger Ales Hemsky, Dallas center Brad Richards and Florida winger David Booth. We’d be surprised if none of the aforementioned three wound up with a crown logo on their chest by Monday.

The Ottawa Senators have extended a contract offer to veteran defenseman Chris Phillips, reportedly for a little less money than his current deal ($3.5 million cap hit). Phillips has expressed a desire to remain with the only NHL franchise he’s ever known, but he’s also one of the hot commodities (potentially) on the trade market prior to Monday’s deadline. If Phillips decides not to re-sign with the Sens, expect teams such as Carolina, Los Angeles, Nashville, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa Bay, Boston, Philadelphia, Phoenix and the Rangers to all have varying degrees of interest.

If Wild GM Chuck Fletcher can find a taker for veteran winger Chuck Kobasew, he’ll likely pull the trigger. Kobasew has scored just 18 goals for Minnesota since coming over from Boston in a trade in early October, 2009. He has battled injuries since arriving and spent a lot of time on the Wild’s fourth line. Still, he’s a three-time 20-goal man in the NHL, so perhaps Fletcher can convince another general manager to take Kobasew off his hands. Kobasew is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, which helps his trade chances.

Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford has been busy tweaking his roster. He made a couple of swaps with San Jose that netted defenseman Derek Joslin and sent Ian White back to the Western Conference, and he more recently re-acquired veteran winger Cory Stillman from Florida. Rutherford isn’t done yet, as he is still on the lookout for an experienced defenseman. Also, with captain Eric Staal now a question mark after getting knocked out of Friday’s home game vs. Pittsburgh, Rutherford may also be looking for center help.

The Coyotes have made a nice run up the Western Conference standings over the course of the last few months, but they have recently been hit by the injury bug. Three key veteran performers, left-winger Ray Whitney as well as defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Adrian Aucoin, are now all on injured reserve. Therefore, expect GM Don Maloney to bring in reinforcements before Monday’s deadline. He likely had been seeking more offense before Whitney went down, so Maloney’s focus may be at the forward positions.

Edmonton is reportedly asking for quite a lot in return for either of their top-line wingers. However, eventually we suspect something will happen with one or the other (possibly both). L.A. is definitely in the mix here.

Usually at this time of the year, Martinek is injured and not on the trade radar. So far this year, he has remained relatively injury-free. Therefore, he should be a hot commodity as we get to the 11th hour of the deadline.